...For some time now, I've started to have this inexplicable hatred towards trains. Yes, I hate trains, sue me! I don't hate all them, actually, but mainly the idea that you depend on them so much when traveling. I had the... let's call it "honor" to ride on a train a couple of days ago.
I said "honor" because it was probably the last time when I willingly got on a train with the intention of traveling with it. No, siree bob. The only way I'm going to ride on a train by my own will again is probably via a Shinkansen bullet train that runs on magnets and is controlled by a Japanese HAL 9000.
It's not that I'm afraid of crashes or anything, no. It's just that this past year almost every train trip I've taken was cursed by the god of delays, if there is such a thing. The icing on the cake came just a few days ago, when I was expecting a train which was already some minutes late. The best part was when the train station information lady announced after ten minutes or so that the train is going to have a delay (Thank you, Captain Obvious!)... of 120 minutes.
Since such a big of a delay isn't exactly common, I shouldn't have gotten very mad, right? Wrong. The fact that it was announced 10 minutes after the train should have arrived at the station in the first place really got my blood flowing. I later found out that the reason for the delay was a huge flood, but that's no excuse for being late in... announcing the delay. Seriously now, am I being obtuse about this? I think not.
And this was just a tiny example, because I have countless others. There was more than a couple of times when I felt betrayed by my choice in taking the train instead of some other form of transportation. Which brings me to the subject of this week's rant about all things automotive... related. What is you favorite means of transportation?
I like driving so much that my first thought would be to choose a car whenever and no matter how far I have to go, but the truth is I'm not insane. I can't take the car for a stroll through the park, while in a highly congested city I'm probably better off on foot or via subway, trams or a combination of the two.
Going on longer journeys is where it gets tough in choosing the type of transport. I, for one, will always choose a car unless I'm obligated to do otherwise. For medium and long distances it's pretty hard, not to mention expensive, to always go by car though. This is mainly because there might be things like rivers, mountains and even oceans between you and your destination, and they haven't yet invented mass-produced flying cars yet.
That's where the airplane option comes in. Statistically the safest way to travel, until there's a crash and you die a fiery death, planes have become one of the most used means of transportation in the world. They're the fastest way to travel as well. That doesn't mean I have to like using them. Although given the option I would definitely travel by plane instead of rail, I'm not much a fan of flying either.
It's not that I have a fear of heights or anything, it's just that I find flying incredibly boring. Unless you're flying first class of course, but I also happen to think that anything above "Economy" is so overpriced it's stupid. The only fun times on an airplane (besides the Mile High Club, of course!) are the take off and landing, where you actually get to see something other than fluffy clouds out the window.
So, in my book, except when traveling long and/or impossible distances, I will always choose a car to ride my tooshie in, while the airplane and as a last resort the train will come in second and third, subsequently. What is your podium between the three?
I said "honor" because it was probably the last time when I willingly got on a train with the intention of traveling with it. No, siree bob. The only way I'm going to ride on a train by my own will again is probably via a Shinkansen bullet train that runs on magnets and is controlled by a Japanese HAL 9000.
It's not that I'm afraid of crashes or anything, no. It's just that this past year almost every train trip I've taken was cursed by the god of delays, if there is such a thing. The icing on the cake came just a few days ago, when I was expecting a train which was already some minutes late. The best part was when the train station information lady announced after ten minutes or so that the train is going to have a delay (Thank you, Captain Obvious!)... of 120 minutes.
Since such a big of a delay isn't exactly common, I shouldn't have gotten very mad, right? Wrong. The fact that it was announced 10 minutes after the train should have arrived at the station in the first place really got my blood flowing. I later found out that the reason for the delay was a huge flood, but that's no excuse for being late in... announcing the delay. Seriously now, am I being obtuse about this? I think not.
And this was just a tiny example, because I have countless others. There was more than a couple of times when I felt betrayed by my choice in taking the train instead of some other form of transportation. Which brings me to the subject of this week's rant about all things automotive... related. What is you favorite means of transportation?
I like driving so much that my first thought would be to choose a car whenever and no matter how far I have to go, but the truth is I'm not insane. I can't take the car for a stroll through the park, while in a highly congested city I'm probably better off on foot or via subway, trams or a combination of the two.
Going on longer journeys is where it gets tough in choosing the type of transport. I, for one, will always choose a car unless I'm obligated to do otherwise. For medium and long distances it's pretty hard, not to mention expensive, to always go by car though. This is mainly because there might be things like rivers, mountains and even oceans between you and your destination, and they haven't yet invented mass-produced flying cars yet.
That's where the airplane option comes in. Statistically the safest way to travel, until there's a crash and you die a fiery death, planes have become one of the most used means of transportation in the world. They're the fastest way to travel as well. That doesn't mean I have to like using them. Although given the option I would definitely travel by plane instead of rail, I'm not much a fan of flying either.
It's not that I have a fear of heights or anything, it's just that I find flying incredibly boring. Unless you're flying first class of course, but I also happen to think that anything above "Economy" is so overpriced it's stupid. The only fun times on an airplane (besides the Mile High Club, of course!) are the take off and landing, where you actually get to see something other than fluffy clouds out the window.
So, in my book, except when traveling long and/or impossible distances, I will always choose a car to ride my tooshie in, while the airplane and as a last resort the train will come in second and third, subsequently. What is your podium between the three?
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